Software Development Updates

Software development involves more than just designing and coding a website or application for users. Developers or software development companies also need to ensure that the software works as expected. Simply building and deploying the software is not enough. Before handing it over to users, the software testing company needs to make sure that it performs well from the user’s perspective. Keeping this in mind, software testing is an essential stage of the software development lifecycle.

Software testing ensures that software meets quality standards. There are two approaches to software testing: manual and automated. Automated software testing is commonly used in large enterprises due to its efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

In this blog post, we’ll examine the definition of automated testing, its advantages and types, the automation testing process, automated testing tools, automation frameworks, and best practices for automated software testing.

1. What is Automation Testing?

Automated testing is a software testing process that involves creating and executing test scripts or test cases using specialized tools to verify expected performance. It automates the repetitive testing process, which can be challenging to maintain accuracy with manual testing during the software development process.

Automation testing reduces the number of test cases, but that doesn’t eliminate the need for manual testing. Automated tests rely on scripted sequences that can be executed many times throughout the day. Automated testing is crucial, especially in large-scale projects, continuous integration, continuous delivery (CI/CD), and agile environments.

Here is what Quora user says about Automation Testing.

2. Benefits of Automation Testing

Test automation accelerates the software testing process and, ultimately, the entire development process, while reducing human error and the need for manual interventions. But, it’s not the only benefit of automated testing; there are many more, which we’ll learn below:

• Increases test coverage: You can create and execute multiple complex test cases that need to be run repeatedly. This process tests your application comprehensively across various browsers, devices, and operating systems, allowing you to validate more functionality in less time.
• Cost-effective: The automated test scripts can be reused multiple times, saving both time and money, especially in projects with budget constraints and frequent releases.
• Improved Accuracy: Test automation gives consistent test results by executing the same steps repeatedly without error.
• Test automation helps with shift-left testing: Shift-left testing is a proactive approach in which testing begins at the start of the software development lifecycle, allowing bug detection and resolution in the early stages. Automated testing enhances this approach.
• Optimal Resource Allocation: Automation testing automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing QA professionals to invest more time in creating new test cases, reviewing test reports, and focusing on exploratory testing.
• Reusability: You can reuse the test cases across multiple test scenarios. This approach reduces redundancy in writing similar test cases, particularly in regression testing.
• Parallel Testing: Automated testing tools like Selenium Grid enable you to run the test in parallel across multiple browsers and operating systems to ensure consistent functionality.
• Scalability: Automation scripts can be run on multiple environments or configurations in parallel, making it easy to test large applications without increasing time or effort proportionally.

3. Automation Testing Types

There are many types of automated testing, each serving a specific role in the software development process and enhancing the efficiency and reliability of the overall testing process. Let’s understand the most popular types of automation testing:

3.1 Unit Testing

Unit tests in isolation evaluate the individual components or units of software, such as functions, methods, or classes. Their purpose is to verify that each part of the software works as intended. Unit testing is one of the earliest tests performed during software development. Due to this, it identifies the bugs in the early stages, helping with quicker resolution and saving the time that would be needed later in the process.

3.2 Regression Testing

Whenever there is a code change, update, or bug fix, we need to verify that these modifications do not affect the software’s expected functionality. Regression tests are performed after every alteration to ensure the software’s stability and reliability. There are various types of regression testing, like corrective regression testing, progressive regression testing, partial regression testing, and complete regression testing. 

3.3 Smoke Testing

Smoke tests are conducted immediately after a new software build is developed to quickly check the fundamental and critical functionalities of the software. They’re also known as “build verification testing”. Smoke testing doesn’t explore the application’s features in depth. It checks whether the latest build is stable enough for more extensive testing, like regression testing.

Here is what Twitter user says about Smoke Testing:

3.4 User Interface Testing

As the name suggests, user interface testing validates the performance and functionality of various user interface elements like buttons, icons, text boxes, checkboxes, toolbars, and colors within an application. It makes sure that the design is responsive and user-friendly across all types of devices. UI testing involves several components, including visual testing, functional testing, accessibility testing, and navigation testing.

3.5 API Testing

API testing focuses on the software’s backend and determines whether the exchange of requests and responses works correctly across the API endpoints. It is crucial for ensuring the reliability and accuracy of communication within the software system. 

Here is what Twitter user says about API Testing.

4. Which Test Cases To Automate?

Automation is helpful, but not all tests can be automated. There are several factors to consider when checking automation feasibility. It would be important to prioritize the test cases according to the requirements and desirability. The selection of test cases decides the choice of test automation tools and their test execution. So, let us now examine some critical parameters that can help identify which test cases are ideal for automation.

4.1 Repetitive Test Cases

The test cases that require frequent execution and are repetitive are the most suitable for automation. Repeatedly running the same scripts every time requires a lot of manual effort, and automation helps save time and resources. Examples of such repetitive test cases include login functionality and basic form validation.

4.2 Test Cases with Multiple Data Sets

Data-driven test cases require multiple iterations with varying input values. Automation testing executes several test cases by automatically changing these inputs. For example, different user permissions can be tested using the same workflow, and form validation can be performed with different inputs.

4.3 Time-Consuming or Tedious Test Cases

Tests consisting of multiple steps or scenarios can be time-consuming, especially in the case of manual testing. For example, cross-browser testing requires varied configurations.

4.4 Regression Tests

Every time software is revised, testers perform thorough testing to ensure the application’s integrity. Regression test automation speeds up this continuous testing process.

4.5 Complex Calculations or Processes

Testing applications like financial systems dealing with complex interest or tax calculations are highly prone to human error. Automated test execution ensures the accuracy and consistency of the test results.

4.6 Performance Testing

Performance testing evaluates a software’s performance, such as its responsiveness, scalability, and stability, under several load conditions. Manual testing becomes quite impractical here, so automation is used to simulate large user loads effectively.

5. How to Perform Automation Testing?

The automated testing process follows a structured approach consisting of a series of steps. The following steps are a detailed guide for automation testing:

5.1 Test Tool Selection

You need to select the right tool based on your project requirements and ensure it is compatible with the technology your AUT (Application Under Test) is built upon. You must take into consideration various factors like the learning curve of the tool, integration with CI/CD pipelines, budget constraints, and community support.

5.2 Define the Scope of Automation

You must clearly define the functionalities and components of the application for which you want to perform software test automation. Describe the scope of automation involves determining the test case types, prioritizing test cases, using automation metrics, determining the feasibility of test cases, and many more.

5.3 Strategize, Design, Develop

Make a proper automation testing strategy aligned with the testing scope and objectives. Design a modular test automation framework that facilitates easy maintenance and scalability. Implement reusable and robust functions, libraries, and components to avoid redundancy in scripts.

5.4 Integration with CI/CD

Consider integrating the automation framework with CI/CD tools such as Jenkins, Bamboo, and CircleCI to achieve seamless automated testing.

5.5 Execute the Tests

Execute the automation scripts on the AUT (Application Under Test) using automation testing tools. You must perform parallel execution to save time in case of large test suites. It’s also required to execute automated tests across different browsers, operating systems, and devices to ensure compatibility.

5.6 Maintenance

As the application evolves over time, changes in user interface, features, and system updates require that test scripts be updated. You can use version control systems, such as Git, can be used to manage test scripts. Periodically refactoring test scripts improves readability and efficiency while reducing redundancy.

5.7 QA Metrics and Reporting

For continuous tracking of automation test performance, you need to monitor metrics like test execution time, pass/fail rate, and defect detection rate. Utilize the selected tool’s reporting capabilities, or you can also integrate with external reporting tools to generate detailed test reports that inform about the number of tests passed/failed, execution time, environment and configuration used for testing, and detailed error messages for any failures.

6. Popular Automation Tools

The choice of the appropriate automated testing tool primarily impacts the outcomes of the automation testing carried out. Tool selection is one of the initial steps in the automated testing process, as we have already seen in the above section.

Today, there are uncountable test automation tools available on the market. Many a time, it becomes pretty confusing as to which tool to select that meets our test requirements. To make the selection process relatively easy for you, we’ve compiled a list of five prominent automation testing tools commonly used in the technology domain.

6.1 Selenium

Selenium is the most popular open-source test automation tool for web applications. It provides the flexibility to develop automation scripts in various programming languages, including Ruby, Java, Node.js, PHP, Perl, Python, JavaScript, C#, and more.

Selenium is primarily a browser automation tool that ensures consistent performance across multiple browsers on different platforms. It can be used with frameworks like JUnit, TestNG, Maven, and Jenkins. Selenium WebDriver is used for browser automation, while Selenium Grid is for parallel test execution.

6.2 Appium

Appium is an open-source mobile-based automation testing tool. It automates native, hybrid, and mobile web applications. You can create test cases in programming languages like Java, C#, Python, and Ruby for Android, iOS, and Windows apps and use the same test script across all platforms. You must install the corresponding client libraries based on your selected programming language.

Appium uses standard automation APIs called XCUITest for iOS and UIAutomator for Android. It’s also based on the WebDriver protocol like Selenium.

6.3 Cypress

Cypress is a popular end-to-end open-source testing tool designed to test modern web applications. It is built in JavaScript and runs directly in the browser through a Node.js server, unlike tools that work with the WebDriver. Hence, there are no inconsistencies between the test and the environment, and executes quickly. Cypress supports built-in assertion libraries like Chai, Sinon, and jQuery removing the need for additional configurations.

As it’s JavaScript-based, it integrates smoothly with modern JavaScript frameworks and libraries like Angular, Vue and React respectively. Cypress comes with a developer-friendly interface and in-depth and detailed documentation.

6.4 Kobiton

Kobiton is a cloud-based mobile testing platform that supports both automated and manual testing on real mobile devices such as Android or iOS. Testers can perform manual testing by interacting with devices remotely through the Kobiton platform or by using automation tools like Appium, Selenium, and XCUITest to run automated tests. You can identify performance bottlenecks through real-time device metrics like CPU usage, memory consumption, battery usage, and more.

Kobiton provides the flexibility to convert manual test sessions into automated test scripts without the need to write any code. It generates detailed reports, including logs, screenshots, and video recordings of the session for thorough review and analysis.

6.5 Playwright

Playwright is a Microsoft-developed open-source test automation Node.js library. It allows you to perform end-to-end testing in the headless and headful modes of web applications and websites that can run across multiple browsers. The tool is compatible with different programming languages like JavaScript, Java, Python, C#, and TypeScript giving you the flexibility to create test scripts in the language of your choice. It integrates with other popular CI tools such as Jenkins, CircleCI, and GitHub Actions as well as frameworks like Jest, Mocha, and Jasmine. 

Playwright supports various types of testing, such as functional, end-to-end, and API testing. You can easily install and configure it according to your preferred language. It is one of the best options if you want to test different web pages across multiple browsers simultaneously, due to its support for parallel browser testing. Playwright Inspector, Codegen, and Trace Viewer tools are used for debugging test cases. 

6.6 Katalon Studio

Katalon Studio is a comprehensive web, API, mobile, and desktop automated testing tool. It ensures performance consistency in different environments by enabling cross-browser testing. It’s open-source and, easily integrates with different third-party plugins, cloud environments, and platforms supporting an Agile and DevOps-centric workflow. Katalon Studio implements testing technologies like test-driven development, behavior-driven development, page object model, and data-driven testing.

Katalon Studio has dual scripting interfaces to support test case creation according to code-based and non-code-based methodologies catering to the needs of both less experienced and proficient programmers.

 The record and playback feature helps to quickly debug the applications. It has a built-in spy feature that captures and displays the object properties such as method and fields, in detail within the application itself. You can export the test reports to PDF, HTML, JUnit/XML, or CSV formats in Katalon Studio. 

7. Automation Testing Frameworks

A test automation framework is a set of rules and guidelines for creating and designing test cases. It provides a systematic approach to documenting, executing, and handling automated test cases. The guidelines comprise coding principles, test-data handling methods, object repositories, techniques for storing test results, and information on accessing external resources. This framework ensures consistency, reusability, and efficiency in the testing process.

We’ll now discuss the most common types of automation frameworks:

7.1 Modular-Based Testing Framework

This framework divides an application into small, independent units called modules. In this, testers write test scripts for each module, all with different scenarios. For example, a shopping cart test can be split into multiple test cases like login, add to cart, and checkout. All these test scripts interact with each other hierarchically. Here, a master script manages all these test cases. Though this approach requires a lot of pre-planning, it increases the reusability and maintenance of test scripts.

7.2 Linear Framework

Linear scripting framework is the most basic test automation framework. It is also known as the Record and Playback framework. In this, testers create self-contained test scripts linearly where each step is recorded and played back in sequence for every test case. If you’re new to automation testing or have limited programming knowledge, this is the most suitable framework for you because it requires very minimal coding.

A linear framework is best for small projects or applications with relatively simple workflows due to its simple setup and quick implementation.

7.3 Hybrid Automation Framework

A hybrid test automation framework combines testing frameworks, mainly data-driven and keyword-driven frameworks. These frameworks are flexible and can be customized according to the project requirements. They integrate easily with continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. The test data is stored in external files such as CSV, Excel, or databases. The driver script handles the implementation of the test cases. 

The hybrid frameworks are highly scalable as you can easily create new test cases using the existing modules, keywords, and test data. Here, you don’t need to rewrite the entire test script to respond to the application changes. Just update the specific test case module, and you’re done. 

7.4 Page Object Model Framework

POM framework organizes the application components into object-oriented classes. These classes contain methods to communicate with the UI elements such as buttons, input fields, checkboxes, etc., on that page. The test scripts interact with the page classes rather than simply manipulating UI elements.

You can reuse the page objects across multiple test cases. As more pages and functionalities are added to the application, new page classes can be created without disturbing the existing tests. Automated testing tools such as Selenium, Appium, and Cypress follow this Page Object Model framework. 

7.5 Library Architecture Framework

The Library Architecture Framework is an improvement over the Linear Framework and Modular Framework. It groups functions into libraries based on their functionality. You can call these libraries in multiple test scripts, allowing for code reuse and reducing redundancy. The test data is stored in external files such as CSV, Excel, or a database. 

As the application grows, new libraries can be created for new features, and existing libraries can be extended without impacting other parts of the framework. Testing tools like Katalon Studio and Robot Framework support the Library Architecture Framework.

8. Disadvantages of Automation Testing

Automation testing speeds up the testing process at a high scale compared to manual testing. We already saw the pros of automated testing in one of the above sections. It’s now time to understand its cons so that you can make informed decisions before going for automation testing.

8.1 High Initial Investment

Enterprise-level automation tools like Selenium Grid, QTP, and TestComplete can seem expensive, especially in the beginning phase. Integration with CI/CD pipelines, cloud services, and other dependencies are additional expenses. Test creation and the initial setup of the automation frameworks require significant time, effort, and money. Maintenance of automation testing tools is also not easy, especially when you don’t get immediate returns for smaller projects.

8.2 Requirement of a Stable Test Environment

Unstable environments can lead to the failure of automation scripts. This could result in the requirement of manual tests to determine if the failure was due to the environment or an actual defect. Automation often involves setting up virtual machines, containers, or cloud environments, which can introduce complexity while dealing with hardware or software dependencies.

8.3 Selection of the Right Tool

Today, you have a wide range of choices, from free to paid tools. You may find that more than one tool meets your project requirements. Many a time you’ll find yourself in a state of mental uncertainty when trying to choose the appropriate testing tool.

8.4 Not Suitable For All Types of Test

Automated testing is beneficial, but it is essential to evaluate the application’s eligibility for automation testing carefully. Applications that frequently change, for example, an application in its initial development stage or have unstable UI elements, can be challenging to maintain automation scripts. Tests like usability, visual appearance, and exploratory testing are difficult to automate because they require human observation, which isn’t possible with automated testing tools.

8.5 Lack of Human Judgment

A test automation tool cannot assess user experience, look-and-feel, or usability. It can only perform predefined checks.

8.6 Demands Technical Expertise

As a tester, you must know scripting languages, programming languages, and automation tools. Software companies must focus on skill updating their team members to remain relevant in the technology sector.

8.7 False Positives and Negatives

In automation testing, you will come across false positives, i.e., tests that fail when the functionality works, or false negatives, i.e., these tests pass when the functionality is broken due to issues with automation scripts. In such cases, a lot of time gets wasted in examining non-existent bugs or missed issues, which undermines trust in the automation process.

9. Automation Testing Best Practices

Here are the best practices for automation testing:

9.1 Select the Right Test Case

Go for automating tests that are of high priority, critical, time-consuming, and require frequent execution, such as regression tests. Try automating the application programming interface (API) and unit tests as they are stable.

9.2 Apply Data-Driven Testing Approach

Test several scenarios for multiple data sets to widen the application’s test coverage and increase its efficiency and reliability. You will not have to create different test scripts for various inputs. You can use the same script, thus expanding the reusability and decreasing the redundancy and maintenance overhead.

9.3 Pick the Appropriate Testing Framework

Testing tools vary based on the platform, such as web, mobile, and desktop, programming languages, and CI/CD integrations. Select the framework that suits your project requirements. You have to think deeply about various aspects like compatibility, the expertise of testing team members, ease of integration with existing processes, and long-term scalability.

9.4 Ensure Self-Contained Test Cases

If tests are dependent on one another, it can lead to streaming failures and make debugging difficult. The test cases must run in isolation and do not rely on the outcome of other tests. 

9.5 Follow Shift-Left Testing Approach

Start testing in the early phases of the software development lifecycle to prevent the cost and effort of resolving bugs in the later stages. Implement unit tests, API tests, and integration tests before moving forward to higher levels of automation testing.

9.6 Regularly Review and Refactor Tests

The test scripts need to be updated to reflect the changes in the application. You must be conscious of this aspect. Review and refactor your test scripts from time to time to remove redundant tests, optimize existing automation scripts, and adapt to the updates in the application.

9.7 Optimize Test Execution Time

You need to see that your created test case must not take too long time for execution. It may slow down the application’s performance. Try to apply parallel testing through Selenium Grid or cloud services and selective test execution techniques to reduce the time taken to run the entire test suite.

9.8 Test On Real Devices

To determine the exact performance of your application, go for testing on real devices and platforms. You will get a better idea of your built application when you see its behavior in real-world scenarios. It’ll improve the efficiency of the application and the productivity of development and testing teams.

9.9 Monitor Test Coverage and Metrics

Keep track of the parts of the application that have already been tested and that remain to be tested. It would be best if you also modified the test metrics according to the changes in application and test requirements.

9.10 Test Reporting and Logging

Effective reporting and logging help identify issues, track progress, and make informed decisions about the software’s quality. The test reports must contain a test summary, detailed test results, execution time, screenshots of failed tests, historical data, etc. Make sure that logs capture key events and actions. Use appropriate reporting and logging tools to get a clear picture of the tests performed.

10. Final Thoughts

Software testing is a crucial step in maintaining and improving software quality. Regular software tests guide both development and testing teams regarding their approach to work. Test automation must always complement manual testing. Never rely on just automated testing. Human opinion is always more valuable than any testing tool, regardless of how comprehensive it may be. A testing team must use their intelligence to see where the involvement of human testers is necessary and where it is not. Software development companies must give equal priority to development and testing to improve their software quality and remain up-to-date with the ongoing trends.

The above article will serve as a valuable resource for technocrats, whether they are newcomers or experienced professionals. You will get a complete idea of automation testing after going through this article with full consciousness. So, go through it and try to implement the learnings in your day-to-day tasks to make the most out of it.